NEW3-part series
SQL Mentoring Series
A structured journey from relational foundations and advanced querying to SQL Server performance engineering and modern data architecture.
Available immediately
Afzal Ahmed
Senior Full Stack Engineer & Technical Lead
I am a working software engineer who still learns by reading, coding, testing ideas and writing down what I discover. Over 15 years in finance, legal, healthcare and SaaS, that habit has helped me deliver reliable software while continuing to grow.
Permanent · Contract · Consultancy · Remote · Hybrid · London · Full UK working rights
Recently published
Browse all articles →What’s New
Recent articles, practical guides and additions to my engineering learning journal.
NEW30 min read · 20 Aug 2026
Advanced RAG Patterns for ASP.NET Core Developers
A practical guide to query routing, decomposition, parent retrieval, contextual compression, HyDE, Corrective RAG, Self-RAG, GraphRAG and bounded agentic retrieval.
Read article →NEW16 min read · 26 Jul 2026
DevOps, Backlog and Team Planning: A Mentoring Guide for a New Team Member
A practical onboarding guide to DevOps culture and Azure DevOps Boards: backlogs, user stories, tasks, bugs, spikes, technical debt, priorities, sprints, definitions of ready and done, and keeping delivery work visible.
Read article →New: Quick Lessons12 min read
Structured Outputs and Tool Calling: The Model Requests, Your Code Decides
Connect models to typed ASP.NET Core results and controlled tools without surrendering authorization, validation or business rules.
Current engineering focus
RAG and Context Engineering for existing business systems
I have built a structured mentoring section explaining how established ASP.NET Core applications can turn authorised information from SQL Server, documents and APIs into grounded model context. It follows the complete path through extraction, chunking, embeddings, Azure AI Search, hybrid retrieval, reranking, citations and advanced RAG patterns.
A trustworthy AI answer begins with trustworthy context.
This is active practical development built on my commercial background in enterprise data, APIs, permissions and business workflows—not a claim of long-term production AI experience.
Next learning roadmapPlanned
The Agentic Leap
The next ten-module section will move from question-answering RAG into goal-directed systems, safe tools, agent patterns, state and memory, MCP, A2A, orchestration, LangChain, LangGraph and a production-minded ASP.NET Core case study.
How I revise and reflect
Visit the practice room →My .NET Practice Room
A public set of questions I use to revisit fundamentals, practise explaining architecture and trade-offs, and expose gaps that deserve another experiment.
Why Hire Me
I bring substantial production experience without pretending that experience ends the need to learn. I can join a team, understand its context, contribute useful code and keep adapting as the system and technology evolve.
I deliver working software
In commercial roles, I have delivered and supported production code handling real users, transactions and operational requirements. My portfolio is clearly identified as practical development work.
I lead without bureaucracy
Architecture discussions, code reviews and stakeholder conversations are part of my work, but I stay close to implementation and remain open to better ideas from the team.
I understand business domains
Loan management, legal practice, healthcare operations, property development — I translate complex business requirements into working systems.
I keep systems running
Production support, incident investigation, root cause analysis, performance tuning. I do not just build things and walk away.
I modernise without breaking
Legacy migration, architecture improvement, technical debt reduction — carefully, incrementally, without disrupting live operations.
I learn in public by building
My portfolio and learning journal show experiments, revisions, working examples and lessons in progress—not a claim that I know every technology.
Industry & Domain Experience
My commercial work spans financial services, legal technology, enterprise teams and digital agencies. I also use healthcare, property and SaaS domains for clearly labelled portfolio development.
💰 Financial Services
Loan management, investor onboarding, payment processing, financial calculations, daily ledger operations, compliance, and reporting. 6 years as tech lead at Zorin Finance.
⚖️ Legal Technology
Practice management for 200+ fee earners. Matters, documents, time recording, billing, compliance workflows, and multi-office operations at Setfords.
🏥 Healthcare
Patient registration, clinical workflows, pharmacy, laboratory, admissions and billing— modelled through the ClarityCare portfolio project with compliance-aware design decisions.
🏗️ Property Development
Full lifecycle platform: land acquisition, planning, construction, sales, handover. 14 modules, 43 permissions, workflow-driven operations through BuildEstate Pro.
☁️ SaaS Platforms
Multi-tenant architecture, subscription management, feature gating, payment integration and tiered pricing explored through substantial, source-backed portfolio platforms.
🏢 Digital Agencies
40+ client projects across multiple industries. Fast delivery, tight deadlines, legacy support, CMS integrations, payment gateways, and multi-project management.
Flagship Portfolio Project
The most comprehensive example of my engineering capability.
Flagship
BuildEstate Pro
Enterprise Property Development Lifecycle Platform
A 14-module enterprise platform with a 49-component design system, global search with 7-layer relevancy scoring, enterprise RBAC (13 roles, 43 permissions), rule-based notification engine, and state machine-driven workflows. Built with .NET 8, Angular 20, SQL Server, Clean Architecture, and CQRS.
Enterprise Engineering Competency
Not just a list of technologies — these are the engineering disciplines I apply to deliver enterprise software.
Foundation
Deep commercial experience in C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server and REST APIs; Angular-led full-stack delivery with recent React and Blazor portfolio work
Cloud & Data
Commercial Azure-hosted applications and SQL Server, with continued portfolio study of Functions, Service Bus, storage and cloud architecture
Architecture
Commercial application and integration design; applied portfolio work with Clean Architecture, CQRS, modular systems and domain modelling
Messaging & Integration
Commercial REST integration and background processing, plus portfolio exploration of Service Bus, events, SignalR and notifications
Security
IAM, RBAC, JWT, OAuth, secure API design, audit logging, compliance architecture
DevOps
Azure DevOps, Git, build and release pipelines, deployment support and production operations; Docker and IaC through continued practice
Observability
Application Insights, structured logging, monitoring, tracing, health checks
Testing & Quality
Unit testing, integration testing, property-based testing, code reviews, TDD
System Design
Enterprise platforms, scalability, performance, resilience, multi-tenant SaaS
Technical Leadership
Mentoring, code reviews, architecture decisions, stakeholder collaboration, SDLC
AI-Assisted Engineering
Claude, Kiro, GitHub Copilot, Azure AI, Semantic Kernel, OpenAI integrations
Recent Professional Roles
Production systems. Real employers. Real delivery.
Full Stack Senior Software Engineer
Focused Technical Development & Portfolio Building
Since completing my role at Setfords, I have focused on hands-on software engineering, technical writing and substantial portfolio projects. Working across ASP.NET Core, Angular, React, Blazor, SQL Server and Azure, I have used realistic property, healthcare, legal, financial and community domains to practise modern full-stack architecture and delivery.
- ▸Designed and developed BuildEstate Pro — a comprehensive real estate development platform managing the entire project lifecycle from land acquisition through to sales
- ▸Built ClarityCare Hospital Management System covering patient registration, clinical workflows, admissions, pharmacy, laboratory services, billing, and staff management
- ▸Developed Loan Investments Supermarket — a lending and wealth management platform with customer onboarding, financial calculations, reporting, and operational workflows
- ▸Created ClarityLegal Platform for managing legal matters, documents, workflows, billing, and compliance requirements
- ▸Built TheLeague — a sports operations and community platform supporting league administration, team management, fixtures, and player statistics
- ▸Developed a focused understanding of Microsoft Foundry (formerly Azure AI Foundry) and retrieval-augmented generation, including how SQL, documents and APIs can feed a separate searchable knowledge layer while operational systems remain the source of truth
- ▸Used AI-assisted development tools to support research, prototyping and review while retaining responsibility for technical decisions and verification
ASP.NET CoreC#AngularReactBlazorSQL ServerAzureClean ArchitectureCQRSAI-Assisted Development
Full Stack Senior Software Engineer
Setfords – Guildford
Worked as a Senior Full Stack Software Engineer on Halo, Setfords' business-critical legal practice management platform used by solicitors and operational teams to manage matters, case workflows, document handling, billing, payments, compliance activities, and internal business processes.
- ▸Developed and enhanced features across a mature enterprise platform where reliability, maintainability, security, and business continuity were critical
- ▸Worked using C#, ASP.NET Core, Angular 19, SQL Server, REST APIs, and frontend/backend integrations while supporting complex business workflows
- ▸Collaborated closely with Product Owners, Business Analysts, QA engineers, stakeholders, and operational users to understand requirements and deliver practical solutions
- ▸Worked with API-driven integrations and supporting SaaS applications used across legal and operational processes
- ▸Performed code reviews, mentored developers, promoted engineering standards, and helped maintain high-quality, testable, and maintainable code
- ▸Played an active role in troubleshooting production issues, investigating root causes, performing performance tuning, and implementing corrective actions
- ▸Contributed to platform modernization initiatives, release processes, SDLC improvements, and continuous improvement activities
C#ASP.NET CoreAngular 19SQL ServerREST APIsAzureSaaS IntegrationsEntity Framework
Let's Build Something Together
I enjoy solving technical problems and helping organisations build better software. Whether it's a long-term engineering role, a technical review, or a specific challenge that needs experienced hands — I'm always open to a conversation.
ASP.NET Core & C#
REST API Development
SQL Server & Data
Angular, React & Blazor
Azure Cloud
Enterprise Architecture
Legacy Modernisation
Performance & Bug Fixing
Ready to talk?
I am available immediately for senior developer, technical lead, and contract roles.
Remote · Hybrid · London · No sponsorship required · Start within 1 week